For the past three years the American Medical Association in conjunction with the Education and Research Foundation has conducted summer programs designed to improve the writing skills of medical students. The AMA-ERF Institute for Medical Writing, to use the formal title, lasted for eight weeks, full-time. The long duration virtually precluded the attendance of any but students, for only rarely could graduate physicians devote this much time to the study of writing. However, many practicing physicians have expressed interest in a writing course of shorter duration.
With the experience gained from the summer program, the AMA now offers a one-week intensive seminar in medical writing, from Jan 17 to Jan 21, 1966, at the AMA headquarters in Chicago. There will be a faculty of three, two senior editors from The Journal and a professor of journalism. The program will study the effective use of written language, as related to physicians'